Thanks. My friends who know more about that end of things seemed confident. We'd probably have to cast it solid and then route out the inside, short of injection molding I can't see another way. So would take a little material to do.

My plan is to build one extra one, unpainted but otherwise assembled, and send it to them to try and cast.

I just can't say for sure it will work. So no promises, but I will try for sure. My actual hand built list is getting long, so I won't actually be upset if some people drop out when I contact them with the price.

But anyone who's on it and wants to stay I'll commit to doing yours.

I'm still actively working on this project. I have a 3D printed prototype armature to sculpt on top of, and I think it's going to work great to ensure that I have consistent quality for a hand made batch.

I still need to get the water jet quote for cutting the steel, that's next on my list, and then I'll know what my costs will be for the project, and I can calculate the final tally for people on the list so they can decide if they're in or not.

Stay tuned.

If I figure out a mass produced version then getting one not painted is probably easy enough. For my limited edition I'll be painting, signing, and numbering them all and wouldn't sell an unpainted one.

3D proto. Will have hand sculpted wood, water jet cut steel bands for the top and bottom, and metal spikes. You won't see any of the plastic, but it will be black.

The mass produced one if it works won't have any metal.

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Heh. I actually decided last night to scrap the art I've done for it and start over. This is why I don't show work in progress! But I did that because I had an idea that would make it even better.

I kinda expected this to happen, I just got a Wacom Cintiq, and it's so much more fun to use, makes me want to do all the art with it. My friend is working on the electronics still, I'll have to tell him I just complicated his job slightly with my new idea.

So here's your teaser, was sketching notes for the new art last night:

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Thanks man! But I'll be taking advantage of your offer to help with the PCBs, you're being super helpful already for this project.

We're just rethinking some things on them, why I haven't gotten back to you with a schematic yet.

Just a quick update, some people wanted to know how this is coming. I'm still actively working on it, just hasn't been much to share, it's in the more slow "boring" dev phase.

I'm working with Scott Danesi (No Trash Cougar) on building 3D printed armatures for the sculpt. (Thanks to Tim Mezel for assisting too.) Just to emphasize this, the 3D printed part is just the "skeleton" for the 2 part epoxy clay and metal to go over, you won't actually see it. Just replaces the PVC pipe in my first model with something more consistent so that I can make these in a big batch. More expensive this way, but will save a ton of time, and that's the only way I can get all of these done.

Scott is awesome, super helpful, and really knows his 3D printing. I'd use him again for this kind of thing in a hearbeat, super responsive and a problem solver. Hit him up if you need something printed! Prototypes 2 and 3 are in the mail to me, might come today, we're just working on getting the fit perfect and cleaning up some edges and details. It's the base for everything, needs to be solid.

First one was good, just a little loose, and some holes weren't quite right. We'll nail that.

Once that's finalized I can take measurements off the final model for the water-jet-cut steel. I have that prototyped out right now in paper and steel, but it needs to be really precise to line up with 9 holes around a curved shape, so I don't want to have the steel cut until I know for sure everything is locked in.

I have a contact for water jet cutting I'll get a quote from once that's ready, if anyone has a hookup let me know though.

Once I have that quote I'll know the final costs and I'll PM everyone on the list with the price and details. Then people can decide if they're really all in or not.

All I can share for the moment, but feel free to ask questions.

Cool, thanks. I have several reasons for not showing things in progress, but definitely part of them is that shit just takes a while. You can see in this hammer thread, it's already 3 weeks old, and I don't have much to show since the first post. And yet I've put a bunch of time into it.

Delays happen. Or, like in this one, I come up with a better idea half way through it and just scrap hours and hours of art to start clean.

I know some people dig being in on the process, and following a project for a year etc. I prefer to just do it until it's done and then do a reveal. It's the Stern model vs the boutique one I guess.

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Hahah, never. I'm not afraid to scrap something and start over to make it better, but I like actually finishing projects.

Got the new 3D prints yesterday, didn't have time to test fit them, will do today, and then I'll know how I'm looking as far as being on track.

Yeah, Pro doesn't have the hammer. The other project I'm doing will work on all MET machines though.

Got the latest prototypes from Scott. Discovered some little issues we're going to fix, and I think the next ones he sends should be final.

The spikes are attached with screws now, so they have a mechanical bond instead of glue. Ball strikes or vibration won't be a problem now. They'll get a dose of red Loctite during the install too to be safe though.

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I am officially closing the list for the hand made hammers. I've hit the max point I can handle.

I will contact everyone on it once I have a final price and details, I'm actively working that out still. The bands where the spikes go around are still in flux (have some thoughts about them, metal might not be the way I go, still investigating), once I solve that I should know my material costs, and roughly how much work each one will be etc.

If anyone drops out because it's too expensive, or they don't like the final design, or just changed their mind or sold their machine etc then I'm willing to give their spot to someone else, but until then I'll keep it to who's signed up already.

I'm still planning on trying to figure out a mass produced version, but it's too early to say if it will happen or not. At the very least I won't investigate it further until the hand made ones are done, since I'd use one of those as the master for any potential casting.

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I just sent everyone on my pre-order list a PM. The final(ish) details of the project are in it, and a price, and how to sign up for a Google form with your name and email if you're still in.

I've hard capped this project at 30, I won't make any more than that ever. If anyone drops out I'm happy to let you take their spot, but that's the only way I'll add any more people.

I was talking with some friends at Arcade Expo about how we might be able to do resin casts for a mass produced one, they thought it was possible. See how that goes after I finish the hand made ones.

I've have a few drop outs, but also more people asking to be in, so anyone who was wait listed is covered.

As of now I have one free slot. This ended up being a little more pricey than planned, so I won't be surprised if I get some more free (and not offended at all to be clear!).

I'm going to just paste some details from PM I sent everyone here, if anyone is interested after reading it and seeing the price feel free to PM me and see if I have a free slot or not.

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Each hammer is going to be hand sculpted with a rock hard 2-part epoxy clay and hand painted, no two the same, over a custom 3D printed armature printed on a high end printer by Scott Danesi (No Trash Cougar). You might know him from his work for Dutch Pinball, he knows his shit, we've gone through 5 prototypes (so far!) to get things right. It will replace your stock hammer with the existing hardware, you'll only need a screwdriver and probably a pair of pliers to hold the nut while you turn the screw. I'll include full instructions with the package.

The top and bottom of the hammer will be wrapped in custom cut leather, that I will hand dye. I used to make watch straps as a hobby, and have all my leather tools and dyes still, I'll work up an interesting patina. The leather will be studded with 18 metal spikes, made with an alloy that's non-reactive to magnets, and fastened with loctited screws to ensure that they can stand up to the rigors of the game.

Each one will be signed and numbered on the back, out of sight of normal gameplay. I will never make these again for people after this run, it's a limited edition product. I was going to cap the number at 20, but I promised people in the thread that I'd honor everyone who asked in the beginning, and I ended up with 30. I really can't handle making more than that, it's going to be a big project, so that's a total hard cap, no more than 30 made.

These are going be a lot of work to do, and they're going to take a lot of time. As such I've decided that I'm going to have to charge more than I originally expected before I realized how much I was biting off. What can I say, I don't like half assing things, it's my nature to go overboard.

These are going to be $300, shipped worldwide.

I realize that's pricey for a mod, and will feel no offense if anyone wants to drop out. I do still plan on trying to make a mass produced version that's cheaper, without the custom stuff, no metal or leather etc. I can't promise it will happen, but I'll do my best. I won't spend any real time worrying about it until after the limited ones are done.

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I've had a couple people ask me if this mod will be compatible with what Pinball Refinery and Mezel offer for adding LEDs inside the hammer. Good question!

The inside of the hammer is totally hollow, more space inside it than the stock one actually, so that's not a problem at all.

Where it gets tricky is running the wires out where the sleeve fits over the shaft. I designed in just a little play there, better to be slightly loose as you slide it on than too tight and not fit (will be secured with a screw of course). But we're talking fractions of a mm. So the wires won't fit in there too, there's no "give" in the plastic like the softer, hollow Stern hammer.

To solve that Scott and I are looking at running a channel on the bottom of the sleeve that will fit the wires. So the plan is to have my hammer be compatible will existing LED mods if that's your thing. I haven't seen one in person myself yet, but I have the parts to rig one up I guess if I wanted to test it.

Since I can't attach images to PMs I'm putting this scribble I doodled for Scott in the thread so I can refer people to it, easier that trying to explain the post above if you can't visualize what I'm talking about.

Here's how the wires for an LED inside the hammer would be routed if you have the mod, or think you might want to add it later. You can do it yourself pretty simply with an LED strip, just buy it pre-wired from Comet even, or if you want really simple Mezel Mods has a kit with instructions.

My understanding is that the Refinery one just runs the wires out the bottom of the hammer. This will be better than that, no chance of the wires getting crushed between the ball and the hammer.

I can't recommend it because I've never tried it, but if you have it installed feel free to chime in with your thoughts on it.

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Oh that's just a rough sketch, it won't be that big. The wires are about 1.5mm thick, I exaggerated to make sure it was clear.

But that's also just the 3D printed part, you won't actually see any of the plastic from that, it's all being covered. It's just the armature or skeleton of the mod. So the channel will be totally hidden.

Hard to tell from that pic, but did you have to drill a hole in the back of your hammer to route the wire?

Anyways, all that kind of stuff will be unnecessary with this. Here's a look at the sleeve that slides over the shaft with the wire routing slot Scott and I designed:

Note the bottom where you can see a little channel.

Put your LEDs inside the hammer wherever you please, totally hollow, and then run the wires out the sleeve. Unlike the stock hammer you don't have to try and poke alligator clips or bare wires through a tiny hole, it's super easy to just run them out the opening since it's all open inside. The wires will rest in the channel when you slide it on so they can freely run back along the shaft to be connected to the game.

Also – I'm waiting to hear from 6 people still, and it looks like I'll have at least 4 slots open on this. I'm going to just go ahead and make the full edition of 30, so the extras will be available if people gain interest, first come first served.

Heh. I can respect keeping games stock. I like my games customized, so long as it's tasteful. It's part of the hobby I enjoy. When he realizes how much more fun it is to shoot with a smaller hammer he'll be sad though.

Ah, gotcha. Yeah, definitely looks like a drilled hole. No big deal, you don't even see it. But this will be a cleaner solution. If I was installing it I'd probably use a couple black zip ties to secure the wires along the shaft of the hammer too. Keep it tight and tidy.

I have some LED strips lying around, I can experiment with how it will look when I get a chance. Been a crazy week, my wife just had emergency gall bladder removal surgery, so I've been in and out of the hospital. She's fine and home now, so I can probably settle back in soon.

A little update. I still have 5 slots open for this. I haven't heard from 2 people, they may or may not be in, I'll send them a note later to check. I'm just gonna build them all, and whenever someone wants the last ones I'll have them.

Getting back on track after a crazy last week, hospitals etc. Scott has been working on the 3D prints in the meantime (the guy is so nice to work with, highly recommended if you need prototyping done) and I should get the first batch by the end of the week. I'll start sculpting on them shortly afterwards.

I just ordered a side of pigskin, once it arrives and I can check it for exact dimensions and any blemishes etc I'll lay out the cut file. I'm thinking that instead of die cutting the leather I'll have it laser cut, so going to try and experiment with burning some designs into the leather with the laser. Going to talk to my friend who's helping out, see what he thinks with the thin leather. If you know leather this is 1-2oz, so under a mm thick.

I've got all the spikes in stock now, and have been experimenting with some of the prototype 3D prints and some scrap leather I have lying around. Here's a couple pics just to give you an idea of my thought process, nothing finished, just feeling through what works. I burned some quickie lines into the leather with a soldering iron just to see how they would hold up under a couple layers of leather dye. I think the idea will work, subtle but nice touch.

Spikes for days!

Experimenting with the leather, nothing final.